Former Hamtramck Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri has reached an agreement with the city of Hamtramck that allows him to resign and receive five months of his salary as severance, his attorney said Wednesday, Oct. 22.
The agreement allows Altaheri, 42, to leave with integrity and preserve his reputation, his attorney, Amir Makled, told the Free Press. His resignation date will be backdated to August, Makled said. He added that some earlier reports that he was fired are inaccurate. Altaheri is considering his future career as he divides his time between metro Detroit and New York City, where he used to live and work.
An immigrant from Yemen, Altaheri was the first minority to lead the police department in Hamtramck, a diverse city with the highest percentage of immigrants among cities in Michigan. Altaheri hired and promoted officers from diverse backgrounds and did extensive community outreach after years of complaints by residents about a nearly all-white police department, which they said was out of touch with the community.
In 2017, city officials said there was maybe only one minority officer in the police department, all city firefighters were white and only three city employees were minorities in a city where white people had been a minority for decades. Four years ago, in November 2021, voters elected Amer Ghalib, the first minority and first non-Polish mayor in the city’s history.
A veteran of New York City’s police department who was the commanding officer of the NYPD’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, Altaheri was named police chief by the council in January 2024. He was sworn in in May 2024 at a ceremony in Zussman Park along with two female police officers. In addition to hiring or appointing minority officers and chaplains from Black, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Yemeni communities, Altaheri hired and promoted women in the department and held the city’s first women officer appreciation night. He also launched a citizen academy and youth academy where residents and youth could learn about the department. Altaheri started the city’s first “CompStat” that uses crime data to identify crime trends in the city to more effectively combat problems. And he added the position of captain to the department.
Meanwhile, former Officer David Adamczyk was secretly recording him at times, later releasing some allegations against the chief that have not been proven in court. Some residents said that racism was behind the backlash against Altaheri.
As part of the agreement, Altaheri will withdraw a counter-claim he filed earlier against the city, Adamczyk and former city manager Max Garbarino, Makled said. Adamczyk and Garbarino, who are white, had earlier filed a lawsuit in June in Wayne County Circuit Court against Altaheri and the city, alleging anti-white bias. That lawsuit is pending, Makled said.
In August, city attorney Odey Meroueh said the city would move to fire Altaheri after a report by Miller Johnson alleged wrongdoing by Altaheri, Adamczyk and Garbarino. The City Council fired Garbarino after the report was released and said the city attorney would handle any possible firing of the chief.
But the agreement said Altaheri will not be fired and instead will voluntarily resign. The City Council unanimously approved the agreement with Altaheri at their Oct. 14 council meeting last week. The agreement says that Altaheri will get his five-month severance sometime over the next two weeks, Makled said.
“We were trying to come to a mutually agreeable resolution,” Makled said in an interview with the Free Press. “We wanted the chief to maintain the integrity. … He’s grateful for the time he spent in the city of Hamtramck. He’s done a lot of good. His reputation was wrongfully sullied by this whole investigation that I thought was done in a way where it didn’t give his version of the facts. The Miller Johnson investigation … was one-sided, but I think the city saw some of the positive things and positive contributions that the chief brought to the city of Hamtramck, and they wanted to have a good resolution with the chief.”
In May, Altaheri was placed on administrative leave by Garbarino as the city launched an investigation. The move led to outrage by some residents who praised the chief’s work.
The announcement of the agreement by Makled came the day before Ghalib was set to testify on Oct. 23 in U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for ambassador to Kuwait. Trump had picked Ghalib to be ambassador in March. Ghalib said earlier that Trump had called him in early October and expressed his support. Ghalib is not running for reelection in the mayoral race; the mayor’s position and three council seats are on the ballot in November.
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, X @nwarikoo or Facebook @nwarikoo
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Hamtramck police chief who promoted diversity resigns, reaches agreement with pay
Reporting by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
